Cody Barnes drained a 3-point shot with 0.3 seconds left to give the Adrian College men's basketball team a 74-73 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association win over visiting Alma College on Wednesday night at the Merillat Sport and Fitness Center.

It was the second consecutive home conference game in which Barnes won the game on a shot with less than two seconds left. His shot beat Trine with 1.2 seconds to go.

The Bulldogs (13-3, 2-3 MIAA) dropped out of this week's NCAA Division III national rankings after losing three of their first four conference games and needed a win to help regain momentum they had earlier this season.

"We really didn't deserve to win that game," said frustrated Adrian coach Mark White. "I'm happy about the victory, but I'm totally disappointed with the way my team performed today. I'm really disappointed in the effort today, and the execution of the plan.

"I have to take full responsibility for that, because I'm the coach. I didn't have my team ready to play to the level that was necessary. Fortunately, it didn't cost us."

Sophomore guard Eric Lewis had a phenomenal night at the offensive end for the Bulldogs with a career-high 32 points, eclipsing his previous high of 27.

Lewis also went above 500 career points as he entered the contest with 491. He finished the game shooting 10-of-20 from the field and 11-of-16 from the free-throw line, tying his career best in made free throws. Lewis grabbed seven rebounds and recorded three steals in 34 minutes.

Sophomore forward Adam Meier grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds (six offensive) and poured in 15 points, including 11 in the second half. Meier recorded a double-double in the second half alone with 10 rebounds.

Alma (6-10, 1-4) led 38-36 at halftime after a 20-minute period which included eight ties and four lead changes.

In the second half, Adrian's defense rounded back into form during the middle stages of the period. The Bulldogs went on an 18-5 run over a 7:58 segment to take an eight-point lead at 66-58 with 5:07 to play. Adrian again led by eight at 68-60 with just 3:10 left, before Alma got back into it with eight straight points to tie the game for the 13th time at 68-68 with 1:37 remaining.

Meier had his biggest play of the game with 1:06 left as he converted on a layup and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but Lewis grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Lewis made the first and missed the second shot from the charity stripe to give Adrian a 71-68 lead. Alma's Scott Nikodemski cut the lead to 71-70 with 52 ticks left, and the Scots called a timeout.

Lewis turned the ball over on the next possession, but Nikodemski could not make a great pass to a teammate while falling out of bounds as Adrian senior forward Sean Gallant picked up a steal.

Page 2 of 2 - The game was stopped by the officials to check the shot clock. It did reset, because possession had been established by Alma, but after play resumed, an Adrian turnover led to Brandon Krause hitting a jumper in the lane with 20 seconds to go giving Alma a 72-71 lead.

Lewis had a shot to give Adrian the lead back, but he was too far under the backboard and his layup was off. Krause grabbed the rebound with seven seconds left, but was injured on the play. Alma coach Sam Hargraves elected Kyle Benthem to take the free throws for the Scots. Benthem made the first, but missed the second, which led to the dramatic finish.

Gallant got the board and shuffled it to Barnes, who took aim from the left wing a foot behind the arc with a hand in his face and drilled the game-winner with 0.3 seconds to go.